


Far Too Young

by KiaCoral



Series: Divine Pulse (An AU Collection) [3]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Mostly a little headcannon AU kinda idea that I might expand on later, Non-Graphic Violence, Pre-Canon, how is that not an official tag yet?, no beta we die like Glenn, techincally?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:34:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25655239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KiaCoral/pseuds/KiaCoral
Summary: “Oh my."He glances upwards, a towering set of stairs leading up to a large stone throne seemingly melting out of the shadows.“However did you get here?”
Series: Divine Pulse (An AU Collection) [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1680505
Comments: 2
Kudos: 53





	Far Too Young

**Author's Note:**

> A little thing that I've been mulling over for, months, really, and finally found some motivation to fix it up and post it. This is actually part of a bigger idea I have that I might expand on later (inspired by the album title "Too Weird to Live, To Rare to Die"), cause I have similar ideas for the rest of the house leaders. But we'll see. Anyway, chapter title is from Panic! At the Disco's song/title, "Far too Young to Die".

* * *

Laughter.

_“Stop it!”_

Shadows.

_“Aw, look, the outsider is trying to stop us.”_

Cries.

_“Leave it alone! You’re hurting it!”_

_“Would you rather we hurt you instead?”_

_“HEY!?”_

_“OW! He BIT me!?”_

_“Darn mutt!”_

_Run…_

_“There he goes!”_

_“Get him!”_

_Run..._

_“Dead end, mutt.”_

_“Think you can mess with us and get away with it, coward?”_

_Fists. Feet. Stones._

_“H-hey, I think -”_

_"Wait-!"_

_Pain._

_Nothing._

* * *

_He blinks slowly. The cavernous space he suddenly finds himself standing in is cast in a dark, luminous green glow, the ceiling and walls nothing more than an endless abyss. The stone floor beneath his feet is slippery smooth with age, the bare brush of his sandals against it whisper soft. The air is stagnant, but lacks the musty smell of dust and stone, lacks the dank and damp of little sunlight._

_“_ **_**Oh my.** _ ** _"_

_He glances upwards, a towering set of stairs leading up to a large stone throne seemingly melting out of the shadows._

_“_ **_However did you get here?_ ** _"_

_A young girl sits, vibrant green irises peeking out from a hooded gaze, while voluminous bright green hair spills past her pale shoulders. The red and white ribbons braided into her hair seem at odds with the hefty gold of her crown and jewelry, with navy blue of her elegant dress._

_He stares, disbelieving and curious, at her long pointy ears._

_“_ ** _Poor child. You are_ ** **far** **_too young to be here._** " _The girl sighs, propping her cheek on her fist, “_ ** _Oh well. I suppose I shall have to change that, won’t I?_** _"_

_He wants to ask so many things, but no sooner does he open his mouth to do so, does the abyss swallow him whole._

_“ **T**_ ** _he next time I see you, you better be_ ** **far** **_older, you hear? Now, run along. It sounds like someone needs you."_**

* * *

Something was licking his face.

Khalid groans, eyes fluttering in vague awareness that he’s sprawled out on his stomach, one side of his face smashed into the dirt beneath him. Shifting his arms leaves him hissing in pain, agony sparking up and down his body and he practically collapses against the ground once more despite not having moved an inch. Whatever was licking him whines pitifully at his side. Khalid squeezes his eyes shut against the pain, tries to breathe as he’d been taught, tries to _focus_. 

It takes him a painfully long time to accomplish.

_Ribs. Broken or bruised. Left arm. Broken. Right wrist. Broken or sprained._

He rolls - _agonizingly_ slow - onto his side, a trembling hand pressing against his throbbing temple. Dark muddy red from the corner of his blurry vision, mixed with a small white-red-brown blob strains to catch his attention. He squeezes his eyes shut as the world - a gloomy, unused alley - spins, knife sharp pain stabbing through his skull.

 _Blood._ Lots _of blood. Head trauma. Concussion?_

The white-red-brown thing moves, pressing against him, high pitched cries piercing his ears and causing his head to pound even more. A rough tongue scrapes against his cheek. Khalid blindly tried to push the offender away but misses entirely as his whole body lights up with pain at the movement. Khalid grits his teeth against the sensation, unwanted tears leaking from his eyes. Something cold noses at his cheek, licks at his tears, a distressed croon reaching his ears. Khalid slowly opens his eyes. It takes several long minutes for his brain to comprehend what his eyes are seeing.

A wyvern.

It was small. Very small. Hardly bigger than a kitten, which was abnormal. Standard hatchlings were at least the size of a small to medium sized dog upon hatching.

A runt, then. Explained why it was in an abandoned alley and not with its parents - explained why those boys thought it fine to hurt it. Boys who were unsurprisingly absent.

Khalid shifted - _slowly_ \- so he was a little bit more upright, jaw clenched against the pain and blinked, then squinted blearily. 

The wyvern whined from near his knee, an almost curious tone in its distressed calls. Khalid let his head fall back against the solid wall behind him, closing his eyes briefly as his head threatened to burst before opening them again.

The hatchling was _white_.

Well, mostly. There was red too. The undersides of its small fragile wings were a pale almost pink color that gradually darkened between the wyvern’s fine-boned ‘fingers’. Blood and dirt were splattered against pale scales, small nicks long since clotted and odd dark patches that resembled bruises.

Bruises that resembled fingers and shoe prints.

Khalid had never seen a white wyvern before. At least, not in real life. Resting a hand across his ribs, he finally manages to sit up properly, his body screaming and burning so hot that he breaks out in a sweat. The wyvern whines at him, cool white snout brushing against his bloodied fingers licking tentatively at the tips. Khalid blinks down at it, still dazed and eyes not focusing properly.

The wyvern whined again, and Khalid tilts his head tiredly as it clamps tiny teeth into his trousers and tugs. It continues tugging vainly, small talons scrambling against the hard packed dirt beneath them before Khalid figures out what its trying to do.

“Sorry little guy,” Khalid slowly lifts a hand, absently surprised when the wyvern doesn’t flinch away as he rests it along its neck, “I don’t think you’re big enough to take me anywhere.”

The wyvern blinks bright gold eyes at him slowly, and Khalid watchs numbly as it ditches its efforts on moving him and crawls into his lap instead. Khalid tries not to flinch away as sharp claws prick his skin through his clothes, breath freezing in his lungs as aches and pains he’d been unaware of flare to life at the sudden - albeit _minimal_ \- weight crossing over them. Khalid barely manages to lift his arm out of the way as the little wyvern makes itself at home on top of him. He stares down at it, dumbfounded.

_Definitely a concussion…_

Ignoring how his body screams in protest, Khalid slowly wraps his arms around the little ball of cool, breathing scales purring against his stomach and curls around it protectively. As his awareness fades, he swears he feels lips brush against his temple.

  
_“_ **_Rest well dear child, for I will be watching over you, just as the stars and moon watch over the night sky._ ** _"_

* * *


End file.
